What Went Wrong — How did the world's markets come to the brink of collapse? Some say regulators failed. Others claim deregulation left them handcuffed. Who's right? Both are. This is the story of how Washington didn't catch up to Wall Street. — A decade ago, long …

AP / Desert News:Shooting puts face on foreclosure crisis -- AKRON, Ohio — By the time deputies came to escort Addie Polk out of her home of 38 years, the 90-year-old had taken out her life insurance policy and placed it next to her pocketbook and keys in the neatly kept house.

She shot herself in the chest Oct. 1 before she could be taken away from the foreclosed house, which was worth less than its mortgage from the day she took out the loan.

A congressman called her the face of a national tragedy, the housing crisis that has affected millions of Americans. Neighbors were stunned and said they had no idea the widow had been about to lose her two-story, white vinyl home...

Public Not Desperate About Economy or Personal Finances — Obama Clearer than McCain in Addressing Crisis — Americans are concerned about the nation's economic problems almost to the exclusion of every other issue, and they register the lowest level of national satisfaction ever measured in a Pew Research Center survey...

Reuters:US mortgage applications rise on refinancing -MBA -- U.S. mortgage applications rose for a second consecutive week, reflecting a jump in demand for home loan refinancing even as interest rates surged the most in more than five years, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended Oct. 10 increased 5.1 percent to 489.3.

discussion:Housing Wire:MBA: Refinancing Activity Soars -- As has been the case throughout the downturn, however, contrasting the MBA’s findings was a separate application index maintained by Mortgage Maxx LLC, known as the MAX; the MAX index fell 4.6 percent in the same week.

Given that the MAX index corrects for multiple applications, the jump in application activity may signal that borrower interest in refi activity may have been higher, but fewer borrowers found programs they could actually qualify for amid a tightening credit cycle — spurring multiple applications...

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Bespoke:Iceland Feels the Chill -- How would you like to have your retirement invested in an index fund tracking Iceland's benchmark stock index (OMX ICEX 15)? After a three-day halt to trading, the index re-opened back up today down 77% from its most recent closing price. The reason? The keepers of the exchange took the prices of all the banks in the index down to zero after they were nationalized by the government. You can complain all you want about the US government's anti-capitalistic actions over the last two days, but if you want to see what a real nationalization looks like, check out Iceland.